The campgrounds located near the Moab site are a safe distance from the tailings pile. Radon monitoring data collected from the nearest designated campground location show that radon concentrations in the vicinity are indistinguishable from naturally occurring background concentrations, indicating that the tailings pile has little discernable effect on radon concentrations at the campground.

Yes. The main potential health risks associated with mill tailings are from long-term (decades) exposure to low levels of gamma radiation and radon gas, a decay product of uranium, and process-related waste materials. Citizens recreating near the site boundary, for example rafting on the Colorado River or mountain biking along Potash Road, need not be concerned about exposure to radon or gamma radiation.

Two of the risk drivers for exposure to low-level radioactive material are distance from the radioactive source and duration of the exposure. Recreational users of the Colorado River or Potash Road are far enough from the pile that radon and gamma radiation are at background levels at these locations. Recreationalists further reduce their risk by the short duration of the exposure.

Some ofthe dust you see coming from the Moab site contains particles from the uraniummill tailings pile. Radioactive particulate material (radioparticulates) andgamma radiation is measured at monitoring stations located around the Moab siteand at various off-site locations. Although the annual readings at severalon-site locations is greater than the U.S. Department of Energy limit of 100 milliremsper year (mrem/yr) above background, no member of the public occupies anyof these locations for a sufficient amount of time that would cause theindividual to receive a dose in excess of the annual limit. In addition, the totaleffective dose to the maximally exposed individual, or the representative personor group from the public likely to receive the most radiation dose based onexposure pathways and parameters, is well below the 100 mrem/yr abovebackground limit. Dust-generating activities at the Moab site are shut down atsustained wind speeds exceeding 20 miles per hour.

“Tailings” is the term applied to mined ore from which the desired (valuable) components have been removed by the milling process. Uranium mill tailings are simply the milled (crushed) ore from which most of the uranium and vanadium, naturally occurring Earth elements that are radioactive, have been removed. Because most of these elements have been removed, the tailings contain low levels of radioactivity.

Through a public input process, DOE determined that the mill tailings pile and tailings-contaminated materials should be relocated to an alternate location for long-term impoundment. The tailings will be relocated 30 miles north to a permanent disposal cell to be constructed at Crescent Junction, Utah.

The materials will be transported in covered containers predominantly by rail. In addition, the ground water beneath the Moab site will be addressed and the site will be reclaimed to a natural appearance.

That “pile” consists of the mill tailings and tailings-contaminated materials left over from the uranium-ore processing operations that were conducted by Uranium Reduction Company and later Atlas Minerals Corporation between 1956 and 1984. The pile is the prominent feature of the Moab UMTRA Project site (Moab site) that is now owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and is being managed for the purpose of remediation. The site is located almost 3 miles northwest of the City of Moab and encompasses approximately 400 acres; the 130-acre uranium mill tailings pile occupies much of the western portion of the site.

Windblown tailings could create fugitive dust emissions. An effective dust control system is currently in place and will continue to be implemented during remedial activities. Water for dust control is stored in a tank or in a freshwater storage pond and is applied using water trucks or water wagons. Non-hazardous dust suppressants such as calcium chloride solution, stored in tanks, are also used.

Personnel certified in reading opacity measurements monitor visible emissions to determine when active dust control measures (e.g. application of water) should be initiated and when dust-generating activities (e.g. excavating, hauling, grading) should be discontinued to maintain 20 percent or less opacity.